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In the image above: (R) UN Representative Mr. Sergey Karpov, the national coordintor of UN in Almaty Kazakhstan in an exclusive interview session with (L) Editor in Chief of The Oslo Times Hatef Mokhtar.

Almaty, Kazakhstan – December 11 2012 – Today at the centrally heated and guarded complex of UN in Kazakhstan a historic meeting has taken place between The Oslo Times Editor in Chief and UN Representative to the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The meeting was scheduled in the city of Almaty, the cultural capital of the country. In the meeting various issues and progress related to the role of UN and operations of the organization in Kazakhstan were discussed.

The distinction of this meeting comes when the cooperation between the UN and Kazakhstan were discussed related to human rights, press freedom and democratic status of the region’s republics.

The interview with the honorable representative would be scheduled for publishing on The Oslo Times within a span of few days.

It would be a very rewarding experience as the insider for our readers who are eager to learn and to have a knowledge of the republic’s stand and position in the region.

The Oslo Times is committed to its readers and will continously bring the exclusives like these to clear the misconcetions and undermine propaganda spread by the rise in yellow journalism around the world.

Rest for information it is advised to check our interview section at regular intervals for further happenings and updates through our exclusives.

I am a brave person with a power of confidence and knowledge who have always accepted risk in his life and I have enjoyed standing against extremism. Do what you want to do, do whatever you can do. I am a lion whose nature is to die like a soldier and live like a leader.

This year the focus was on humans and their environment with overall winner, Hong Kong resident Chan Kwok Hung, producing a stunning image of homeless children in Nepal crying on the edge of survival.

He said: ‘The photo was taken in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal and is of two children who lived nearby to the junkyard with their grandmother. ‘Every day they searched the junkyard for something useful that they can resell for money so they can buy food.

‘If they don’t find anything their grandmother blamed them seriously. Unfortunately, they had found nothing for a few days, the little boy felt very hungry.

‘I gave them some money and a biscuit after taking this photo. But who knows who will help them afterwards.’

The 13 judges had to sort through over 10,000 entries from 105 nations, making this the most popular and high calibre year to date.

From children to the fish in the deep sea, these dramatic images captured our natural environemt with its beauty and despair.

Hung said: ‘I’m so proud that I am the winner of the Environmental Photographer of the Year Competition,’ he said. ‘This award is very important and meaningful to me because I can share my photo to the world.’

The judges heaped praise on Chan for the way he depicted the effect on humans that environmental damage causes.

Judge and chairman of the UK Environmental Agency, Lord Smith, said: ‘This is a very graphic image that captures the human impact of homelessness. Coupled with the mountain of rubbish, it links homelessness with the degradation of the environment.

‘Those around the world facing the greater environmental hazards are very often those facing acute poverty too.

I have added some of the pictures and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and feel free to comment 9n which one you like,

Winner – Two children who live nearby to the junkyard with their grandmother in Kathmandu, Nepal. Every day they search the junkyard for something useful that they can resell for money so they can buy food. If they don’t find anything their grandmother blames them. Unfortunately, they had found nothing for a few days and the little boy feels very hungry. The photographer gave them some money and a biscuit after taking this photo. Foto: Chan Kwok Hung ( BULLS )

Winner – Lightning strikes at night illuminating the water falling from Keiteur Falls, the world’s largest single drop waterfall in Kaieteur National Park, Guyana. Foto: James Broscombe ( BULLS )

The pillars of a derelict wharf form a beautiful frame for the ever-preset school of scad circling near the surface. Foto: Chris Gug ( BULLS )

A little boy playing with the smashing river water while standing on a piece of land which had recently broken off from the bank. Foto: Shabbir Ferdous ( BULLS )

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – UNDATED: African penguins huddle together on the shores of a rocky point while fires burn on the slopes of the hottento holland mountains in Bettys Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa. Foto:

Whenever I see a child he looks with innocence at me without knowing why I am looking at him. From centuries the presence of the kids have always been consider as a positive sign of prosperity and luck. But as the world started progressing the positive intentions were changed into the abusive side against those who are viewed as the future of the national society, who helped in building a smart and bright future. Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible sign, other types of abuse, such as emotional abuse or child neglect, also leave deep, long lasting scars.

Physical abuse is shocking due to the scars it leaves, not all child abuse is as obvious. Ignoring children’s needs, putting them in unsupervised, dangerous situations, or making a child feel worthless or stupid are also child abuse. Regardless of the type of child abuse, the result is serious emotional harm. Physical abuse is just one type of child abuse.

Non-accidental physical injury may include severe beatings, burns, biting, strangulation and scalding with resulting bruises, welts, broken bones, scars or serious internal injuries. (National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse) An “abused child”, under the law, means a child less than 18 years of age whose parent or other person legally responsible for the child’s care inflicts or allows to be inflicted upon the child physical injury by other than accidental means which causes or creates substantial risk of death or serious disfigurement, or impairment of physical health, or loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ. It is also considered “abuse” if such a caretaker creates or allows to be created situations whereby a child is likely to be in risk of the dangers mentioned above.

Behavioral Indicators in Child: avoids physical contact with others, apprehensive when other children cry, wears clothing to purposely conceal injury, i.e. long sleeves, refuses to undress for gym or for required physical exams at school, gives inconsistent versions about occurrence of injuries, burns, etc., seems frightened by parents, often late or absent from school, comes early to school, seems reluctant to go home afterwards, has difficulty getting along with others, little respect for others, overly compliant, withdrawn, gives in readily and allows others to do for him/her without protest, plays aggressively, often hurting peers, complains of pain upon movement or contact, has a history of running away from home and reports abuse by parents.

Family or Parental Indicators: many personal and marital problems, economic stress, parent(s) were abused as children themselves, were raised in homes where excessive punishment was the norm, and use harsh discipline on own children, highly moralistic, history of alcohol or drug abuse, are easily upset, have a low tolerance for frustration, are antagonistic, suspicious and fearful of other people, social isolation, no supporting network of relatives or friends, see child as bad or evil, little or no interest in child’s well-being; do not respond appropriately to child’s pain, explanation of injuries to child are evasive and inconsistent, blame child for injuries, constantly criticize and have inappropriate expectations of child and take child to different physicians or hospital for each injury

Neglect and emotional abuse can be just as damaging, and since they are more subtle, others are less likely to intervene. While it’s easy to say that only “bad people” abuse their children, it’s not always so black and white. Not all abusers are intentionally harming their children. Many have been victims of abuse themselves, and don’t know any other way to parent. Others may be struggling with mental health issues or a substance abuse problem.

Abuse is any behavior that is designed to control and subjugate another human being through the use of fear, humiliation, intimidation, guilt, coercion, manipulation etc. Emotional abuse is any kind of abuse that is emotional rather than physical in nature. It can include anything from verbal abuse and constant criticism to more subtle tactics, such as repeated disapproval or even the refusal to ever be pleased.

Emotional abuse is like brain washing in that it systematically wears away at the victim’s self-confidence, sense of self-worth, trust in their own perceptions, and self-concept. Whether it is done by constant berating and belittling, by intimidation, or under the guise of “guidance,” “teaching”, or “advice,” the results are similar. Eventually, the recipient of the abuse loses all sense of self and remnants of personal value.

Emotional abuse cuts to the very core of a person, creating scars that may be far deeper and more lasting that physical ones.

In fact there is research to this effect. With emotional abuse, the insults, insinuations, criticism and accusations slowly eat away at the victim’s self-esteem until she is incapable of judging the situation realistically. She has become so beaten down emotionally that she blames herself for the abuse. Her self-esteem is so low that she clings to the abuser.

Emotional abuse victims can become so convinced that they are worthless that they believe that no one else could want them. They stay in abusive situations because they believe they have nowhere else to go. Their ultimate fear is being all alone.

Child abuse doesn’t only happen in poor families or bad neighborhoods. It crosses all racial, economic, and cultural lines. Sometimes, families who seem to have it all from the outside are hiding a different story behind closed doors. While abuse by strangers does happen, most abusers are family members or others close to the family. It is true that abused children are more likely to repeat the cycle as adults, unconsciously repeating what they experienced as children.

On the other hand, many adult survivors of child abuse have a strong motivation to protect their children against what they went through and become excellent parents.

Child’s ability to cope: A child will find a way to cope with the abuse. The methods a child uses can add to the effects. Coping skills can be:

Physical, such as raging or becoming the “comedian” or “class clown”. While being “funny” is generally considered an attribute, there are children who use humour to cover up the fact that they are suffering.

Emotional, such as the child refusing to try anything new for fear of failure, and therefore avoids receiving even more negative messages about themselves.

Inward, where the child turns against him/herself, either physically (such as in self-harming in the form of cutting or burning) or emotionally (such as in self-blame).

Outward, such as when the child acts out against someone else.

Children and youth suffer physical pain, trauma, and emotional scars when they are victims of child abuse. The physical child abuse effects also vary depending on the age of the child.

American Child Abuse Figures:

Although the incidence of child abuse and neglect has been decreasing in recent years, more than 1.25 million, or 1 in every 58 children in the United States, were abused in 2006. More than half (61 percent) of the children (771,700 children) were victims of neglect, meaning a parent or guardian failed to provide for the child’s basic needs. Forms of neglect include educational neglect (360,500 children), physical neglect (295,300 children), and emotional neglect (193,400). Another 44 percent were victims of abuse (553,300 children), including physical abuse (325,000 children), sexual abuse (135,000 children), and emotional abuse (148,500 children).

An average of nearly four children dies every day as a result of child abuse or neglect (1,760 in 2007). In 2007, nearly one-half of all victims of child abuse and neglect were White (46.1%), one-fifth (21.7%) were African-American, and one-fifth (20.8%) were Hispanic.

Although children of all ages experience abuse and neglect, it is the youngest children that are the most vulnerable, with almost 32% of the victims of child abuse and neglect being under the age of four years. 14% of all men in prison in the USA were abused as children. 36% of all women in prison were abused as children. Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime. More than five children die every dayas a result of child abuse.

Approximately 80% of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4. It is estimated that between 50-60% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates. More than 90% of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator in some way. About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children,continuing the horrible cycle of abuse. About 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder. The estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2007 is $104 billion.

Indian Child Abuse Figures:

During a study on child abuse in Kolkata – India, four out of 10 boys faced sexual harassment in school. Generally the age of maximum abuse is between 9 to 12 years. The national study found that the abuse gained momentum at the age of 10 and peaked from 12 to 15. A Belgian Catholic Church-backed commission published a report on September 10, 2010 revealing hundreds of cases of alleged sexual abuse of minors by clergy and church workers, and 13 suicides by abuse victims.

The commission said it had received 475 complaints in the first six months of this year from alleged victims or their families. Most were related to charges of sexual abuse committed between the 1950s and the late 1980s by Catholic clergy, but also by teachers of religion and adults working with youth movements.

India has become one of the hottest child sex tourism destinations. A report, Trafficking in Women and Children in India, sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), highlights this, mentioning not just Goa, which since the 1990s has uncovered rackets by Freddy Peats and Helmut Brinkmann, but also Alleppy and Ernakulam districts of Kerala, where houseboat tourism has lately seen a boom. In Kerala, “sex on the water” is the latest rage for paedophiles. Most paedophiles heading for Kerala start in Delhi, where police estimates the existence of 10 cartels specialising in child sex tourism. “With nearly a lakh homeless children in Capital, it’s easy for paedophiles to come and expolit them” says Dr Rajat Mitra, who heads Swanchetan, an NGO specialising rape trauma. In Mumbai, nearly 70,000 minors are abused yearly, estimates Kusumbar Choudhury of Save the Children India.

There are 500,000 children in prostitution, in India. More than 3 children die a day in the USA. Of the total number of children who were killed in the USA, from 1976-1997, 54 percent were killed by a parent, 15 percent were killed by strangers or unknown persons. There are over 15 million children in bonded labour, in India today. Twice as many girls than boys engaged in child labour. 63% of girls in Delhi, have experienced child sexual abuse at the hands of a family member (Sakshi, 1997).
In a study of a 1000 girls from 5 different states in India, (Rahi, 1997), 50% of the girls said that they had been abused when under 12 years of age, 35% had been abused between the ages of 12- 16 years of age. The average sex offender has 76 victims. (American data)

There are at least 18 million children living on the streets in India. In a number of joint studies conducted by UNICEF and the Ministry of Labour, 75% of the children reported treatment by staff as bad and 91.7% reported provisions of necessities as bad, Bangalore. In Mumbai 75.4 % reported bad treatment by staff and 53.2 reported that provisions were poor. One million children are trafficked into prostitution, in Asia every year.

Australian Child Abuse Figures:

A child may be the subject of more than one notification – in 2009-10, the 286,437 notifications recorded during the financial year concerned 187,314 children. The number of children subject to a notification has increased by 16% in the last 5 years (161,930 to 187,314) in Australia (though there was a 10% drop from a high of 207,462 children in 2008-09). There were 35,895 children in out-of-home care on 30 June 2010. In all jurisdictions the total number of children residing in an out-of-home care placement was higher at 30 June 2010 when compared with 30 June 2009. However the number of children admitted into out-of-home care decreased by 6% from 12,833 in 2008-09 to 12,002 in 2009-10. Almost one-third (30%) of children in out-of-home care were aged 10-14 years. A further 30% were aged 5-9 years, 25% were aged less than 5 years and 15% were aged 15-17 years.

Of those children in home-based care, 49.1% were in foster care, 48.5% were in relative/kinship care, and 2.2% were in some other type of home-based care.

A small proportion of children (5%) removed from their homes were placed in residential care, where staff were paid to care for them. Children in residential care were considerably older than children in home-based care, with 40% aged between 10-14 years and a further 45.7% aged between 15-17 years.

Pakistan’s Child Abuse Figures:

The number of cases of child abuse reported across the country increased from 4,386 to 5,268 in 2007, a report by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) has revealed. In 2006, the number of child trafficking cases was 86, police torture 96 and suicide incidents 18 whereas in 2007, cases of child kidnapping increased to 324, police torture 241 and suicides to 520. The statistics also reveal that 726 children were murdered; 387 female and 305 male children were sexually assaulted; 366 children became victims of physical torture; 85 were punished under Karo Kari; 1,084 children were kidnapped; and 1,230 children went missing during 2007.

The issue of violence against children is worsening as around 3,051 children were victimised in Punjab. Balochistan had the lowest number of cases, with 225 abuse cases in 2007. Report reveals ‘widespread’ phenomenon of male child prostitution Says children serving long terms in prison for minor offences. Says that 11,000 kiln workers in Sahiwal are under the age of 16.

It said that conditions in jails were worse and there were no special provisions for children living with their mothers. The report mentioned that there were some 70,000 children living on the streets nationwide. It said that Lahore is estimated to have 7,000 children living on the streets while in Peshawar there are a further 5,000. There are around 2,500 children in Quetta and 3,000 children in Rawalpindi are living on the streets.

Kilns: Quoting the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the report says that of more than 2,200 persons deported to Pakistan in 2007, 15 were children less than 18 years of age. The report also says that the number of children affected by the child labour and bonded labour is worsening with a rise in poverty. It mentioned that in Sahiwal, 11,000 kiln workers are younger than 16.

Researched Circumstances and some facts:

Abused children are25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy. Abused teens are less likelyto practice safe sex, putting them at greater risk for STDs. As many astwo-thirds of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused or neglected as children. Children whose parents’ abuse alcohol and other drugs are three times more likely to be abused and more than four times more likely to be neglected than children from non-abusing families. One-third to two-thirds of child maltreatment cases involve substance use to some degree.

Cheetah which once roamed freely across Asia is now only found in less than hundred found now only in Iran’s central desert with few sightings in Baluchistan – Pakistan. The head and body of the adult Asiatic Cheetah measure from 112 to 135 cm with a tail length between 66 and 84 cm. It can weigh from 34 to 54 kg, but the male is slightly larger than the female. Cheetah is the only specie which become extinct in India in last 100 years.

Percept as the trophy hunter for black buck & gazelle hunting. At one time Mughal Emperor Akbar used to had 1000 Indian Cheetahs as pets used mostly for his hunting expeditions, its depiction can be seen in paintings & miniatures of mediaeval era. Hunted for passion & driven near to extinction also because of the habitat loss & conversion of grasslands into farm lands. The survival rate is also low as there the fertility is very low & infant mortality rate is high, captive breeding has never been successful of Cheetahs worldwide & has never been attempted for Asiatic Cheetah. Cheetah’s presence in India known to have from many centuries, its name was derived from Sanskrit word chitraka.

The last three Indian Cheetahs were shot in 1947 in Sarguja Madhya Pradesh – India by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo.

Indian Cheetah used to prey on black bucks, nilgai, hare, spotted dear, sambar.

The Rewilding Program: Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has initiated a program for re introducing Asiatic Cheetah in India under captive breeding program but the vets are concerned & has warned about the gene pool disaster as the pure gene pool is limited & lacks the fertility ration due to the near extinction numbers.

Approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.

More than half of this area is over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (‰) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ‰. Scientists estimate that 230,000 marine species are currently known, but the total could be up to 10 times that number.

The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria. These divisions are (in descending order of size):

Click at the picture for a larger image

Pacific Ocean, which separates Asia and Australia from the Americas

Atlantic Ocean, which separates the Americas from Eurasia and Africa

Indian Ocean, which washes upon southern Asia and separates Africa and Australia

Antarctic Ocean, sometimes considered an extension of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, which encircles Antarctica.

Arctic Ocean, sometimes considered a sea of the Atlantic, which covers much of the Arctic and washes upon northern North America and Eurasia.

Click at the picture for a larger image

The Pacific and Atlantic may be further subdivided by the equator into northern and southern portions. Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays, straits and other names.

Geologically, an ocean is an area of oceanic crust covered by water. Oceanic crust is the thin layer of solidified volcanic basalt that covers the Earth’s mantle. Continental crust is thicker but less dense. From this perspective, the earth has three oceans: the World Ocean, the Caspian Sea, and Black Sea. The Mediterranean Sea is at times a discrete ocean, because tectonic plate movement has repeatedly broken its connection to the World Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Black Sea is connected to the Mediterranean through the Bosporus, but the Bosporus is a natural canal cut through continental rock some 7,000 years ago, rather than a piece of oceanic sea floor like the Strait of Gibraltar.

Lack of clean water

Almost 50% of the developing world’s population; 2.5 billion people lacks improved sanitation facilities, and over 884 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more.

Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because their schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), sustainable development is impossible.

Source; UNICEF, July 2010

Facts about water

Today’s water crisis is not an issue of scarcity, but of access. More people in the world own cell phones than have access to a toilet. And as cities and slums grow at increasing rates, the situation worsens. Every day, lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills thousands, leaving others with reduced quality of life.

884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people.

3.575 million People die each year from water-related disease.

The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.

People living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city.

An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.

Sanitation

Only 62% of the world’s population has access to improved sanitation – defined as a sanitation facility that ensures hygienic separation of human excreta from human contact.

Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection.

2.5 billion People lack access to improved sanitation, including 1.2 billion people who have no facilities at all.

Of the 60 million people added to the world’s towns and cities every year, most occupy impoverished slums and shanty-towns with no sanitation facilities.

Children

Diarrhea remains in the second leading cause of death among children under five globally. Nearly one in five child deaths – about 1.5 million each year – is due to diarrhea. It kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease.

Diarrhea is more prevalent in the developing world due, in large part, to the lack of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as poorer overall health and nutritional status.

Children in poor environments often carry 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies at any time.

In the developing world, 24,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable causes like diarrhea contracted from unclean water.

1.4 million Children die as a result of diarrhea each year.

Women

In just one day, more than 200 million hours of women’s time is consumed for the most basic of human needs — collecting water for domestic use.

This lost productivity is greater than the combined number of hours worked in a week by employees at Wal*Mart, United Parcel Service, McDonald’s, IBM, Target, and Kroger, according to Gary White, co-founder of Water.org.

Millions of women and children spend several hours a day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources.

A study by the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) of community water and sanitation projects in 88 communities found that projects designed and run with the full participation of women are more sustainable and effective than those that do not. This supports an earlier World Bank study that found that women’s participation was strongly associated with water and sanitation project effectiveness.

Diseases

At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

The majority of the illness in the world is caused by fecal matter.

Almost one-tenth of the global disease burden could be prevented by improving water supply, sanitation, hygiene and management of water resources. Such improvements reduce child mortality and improve health and nutritional status in a sustainable way.

88% of cases of diarrhea worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene.

90% of all deaths caused by diarrheal diseases are children under 5 years of age, mostly in developing countries.

It is estimated that improved sanitation facilities could reduce diarrhea-related deaths in young children by more than one-third. If hygiene promotion is added, such as teaching proper hand washing, deaths could be reduced by two thirds. It would also help accelerate economic and social development in countries where sanitation is a major cause of lost work and school days because of illness.

Economics

Over 50 % of all water projects fail and less than five percent of projects are visited, and far less than one percent have any longer-term monitoring.

Investment in safe drinking water and sanitation contributes to economic growth. For each $1 invested, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates returns of $3 – $34, depending on the region and technology.

Almost two in every three people who need safe drinking water survive on less than $2 a day and one in three on less than $1 a day.

Households, not public agencies, often make the largest investment in basic sanitation, with the ratio of household to government investment typically 10 to 1.

Investment in drinking-water and sanitation would result in 272 million more school attendance days a year. The value of deaths averted, based on discounted future earnings, would amount to US$ 3.6 billion a year.

Environment

Less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use.

More than 80% of sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas.

The UN estimates that by 2025, forty-eight nations, with combined population of 2.8 billion, will face freshwater “stress” or “scarcity”. Our Water.org High School Curriculum

Agriculture is the largest consumer of freshwater by far: about 70% of all freshwater withdrawals go to irrigated agriculture.

At home the average American uses between 100 and 175 gallons of water a day. That is less than 25 years ago, but it does not include the amount of water used to feed and clothe us.

Conserving water helps not only to preserve irreplaceable natural resources, but also to reduce the strain on urban wastewater management systems. Wastewater is costly to treat, and requires continuous investment to ensure that the water we return to our waterways is as clean as possible.

Trafficking has become a lucrative industry and is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Globally, it is tied with the illegal trade, as the second largest criminal activity, followed by the drug trade. Human trafficking usually affects women and children more than it affects men. Sex trafficking is nothing less than slavery because when an offender takes a woman or girl against her will and forces her to engage in prostitution, he not only sells her body but also her freedom and dignity. Much sex trafficking is international, with victims being taken from places such as South and Southeast Asia, the former Soviet Union, Central and South America, and other less-developed areas to more developed places including Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America. Those who profit from victimizing children and adults in the sex trade are only one half of the problem. The other half is those who patronize this industry.

The total annual revenue for trafficking in persons is estimated to be between USD$5 billion and $9 billion. The Council of Europe states, “People trafficking have reached epidemic proportions over the past decade, with a global annual market of about $42.5 billion,” and The United Nations estimates nearly 2.5 million people from 127 different countries are being trafficked around the world.

Human trafficking differs from people smuggling. As for smuggling, people voluntarily request or hire an individual, known as a smuggler, to transport them from one country to another, where legal entry would be denied upon arrival at the international border. After entry into the country and arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is free to find their own way, while smuggling requires travel, trafficking does not. Victims of human trafficking are not permitted to leave upon arrival at their destination, they are held against their will through acts of coercion and forced to work or provide services to the trafficker or others. The work includes anything from bonded or forced labor to commercialized sexual exploitation.

1. How Does Human Trafficking Take Place?

Traffickers find their victims from developing countries where poverty is widespread, commonly through force or deception. The victims are typically very young, from 8 to 18 years old and some as young as 4 or 5 years old. A common scenario involves a poor Asian or Eastern European girl who is offered a “better life” as a housemaid, restaurant server or dancer in a wealthy country such as the United States, Great Britain, or Italy. As she arrives, her passport is taken away, she is physically and sexually abused and forced into prostitution in a country where she neither speaks the language nor have any friends nor relatives. She is forced to service 8-15 clients a day and does not receive any pay as she is told that the money is used to pay off her “debt” to the trafficker and brothel owners for transportation, food, lodging and so on. After some period of time, she will be resold to another brothel owner, often in another country, and the cycle will continue all over again. She is likely to acquire HIV/AIDS, and to pass it on to her clients and their wives, all around the world. She has a greater chance than most of dying early, and is certain to live a horrible existence in whatever short years she has. Even if she is eventually rescued and repatriated to her country and community, she is likely to be ostracized as a result of her involvement in prostitution.

Government and police corruption, primarily in under-developed countries, play a large role in the perpetuation of the sex slave industry, with blind-eyes being turned toward openly active brothels and payoffs being accepted by those officials charged with the enforcement of national and international laws prohibiting trafficking, prostitution and child sexual exploitation.

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2. Types of labor work

Bonded labor, or debt bondage, is probably the least known form of labor trafficking today, and yet it is the most widely used method of enslaving people. Victims become bonded laborers when their labor is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan or service in which its terms and conditions have not been defined or in which the value of the victims’ services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt. The value of their work is greater than the original sum of money “borrowed.”

Forced labor is when victims are forced to work against their own will, under the threat of violence or some other form of punishment, their freedom is restricted and a degree of ownership is exerted. Men are at risk of being trafficked for unskilled work, which globally generates $31bn according to the International Labor Organization. Forms of forced labor can include domestic servitude; agricultural labor; sweatshop factory labor; janitorial, food service and other service industry labor; and begging.

Sex trafficking victims are generally found in poor circumstances and easily targeted by traffickers. These circumstances include homeless individuals, runaway teens, displaced homemakers, refugees, and drug addicts. While it may seem like trafficked people are the most vulnerable and powerless minorities in a region, victims are consistently exploited from any ethnic and social background. Traffickers are known as pimps or madams, offers promises of marriage, employment, education, and/or an overall better life. However, in the end, traffickers force the victims to become prostitutes or work in the sex industry. Various works in the sex industry includes prostitution, dancing in strip clubs, performing in pornographic films and pornography, and other forms of involuntary servitude. Women are lured to accompany traffickers based on promises of lucrative opportunities unachievable in their native country. Most have been told lies regarding the financial arrangements and conditions of their employment and find themselves in coercive or abusive situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there were 1,229 human trafficking incidents in the United States from January 2007- September 2008. Of these, 83 % were sex trafficking cases.

Child labor is a form of work that is likely to be hazardous to the physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development of children and can interfere with their education. The International Labor Organization estimates worldwide that there are 246 million exploited children aged between 5 and 17 involved in debt bondage, forced recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution, pornography, the illegal drug trade, the illegal arms trade, and other illicit activities around the world.

3. Trafficking in children

Trafficking of children is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of children for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children can take many forms and include forcing a child into prostitution or other forms of sexual activity or child pornography. Child exploitation can also include forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, the removal of organs, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for use in begging or as athletes (such as child camel jockeys or football players), or for recruitment for cults.

Thailand and Brazil are considered to have the worst child sex trafficking records. One of the major reasons is the parent’s extreme poverty where they sell their children in order to pay debts or gain income. Some is deceived that the traffickers will give a better life and education for their children. The adoption process, legal or illegal, can sometimes result in cases of trafficking of babies and pregnant women between the West and the developing world. Thousands of children from Asia, Africa, and South America are sold into the global sex trade every year. Often they are kidnapped or orphaned, and sometimes they are actually sold by their own families.

Trafficking victims are also exposed to different psychological problems. They suffer social alienation in the host and home countries. Stigmatization, social exclusion and intolerance make reintegration into local communities difficult. The governments offer little assistance and social services to trafficked victims upon their return.

4. Global nature of the problem

Sex trafficking is global in nature and the victims come from all developing countries and are trafficked into or through virtually all developing and developed countries. It is estimated, for example, that 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States every year, most of who are sold into prostitution. This is not dependent on nationality, race or religion and not on economic or social standing. The one substantial difference is that it is the wealthy countries – through their military, businessmen, tourists, and Internet pornography subscribers, all of whom pay significantly more for the use of a sex slave that keeps this criminal industry extremely profitable for traffickers.

Trafficking does not only occur in poor countries, but in fact in every country. A source country is a country where people are trafficked and these countries are often weakened by poverty, war, corruption, natural disasters or climate. Some examples of source countries are Nepal, Guatemala, and the former Soviet Union, Nigeria, Thailand, China, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and many more. Then there is transit country where the victims are enslaved and the destination country is where the victim ends up. Japan, India, much of Western Europe, and the United States are all destination countries and the most common destinations for victims of human trafficking are Thailand, Japan, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the US, according to a report by the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).

Almost every human trafficking prevention organization works to spread public awareness of trafficking. Several methods have been used to achieve public awareness, and while some produce little results, others have succeeded in persuading governments to pass laws and regulations on human trafficking. By pushing the issue of human trafficking into the public eye through the media, organizations work to educate the general public about the dangers of being trafficked and practices of preventing individuals from being trafficked. Television, magazines, newspapers, and radio are all used to warn and educate the public by providing statistics, scenarios, and general information on the subject.

Regardless of the type of human trafficking, nearly 1 in 5 of its victims was children, according to various reports. Their innocence is abused for begging, or exploited for sex as prostitutes, pedophilia or child pornography. Others are sold as child brides or camel jockeys.”

In a 2008 report on human trafficking, the U.S. State Department listed Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as destination countries with widespread trafficking abuses, particularly forced laborers trafficked from Asia and Africa who are subject to restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats and physical and sexual abuse. The report found those countries made feeble efforts to rescue victims and prosecute traffickers. The department’s report also says slave labor in developing countries such as Brazil, China and India was fueling part of their huge economic growth. Other countries on the blacklist were Algeria, Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Myanmar, Moldova, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Sudan and Syria.

According to the Report, the most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. In Central Asia and Eastern Europe, women make up more than 60 percent of those convicted of trafficking. The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labor, or slavery, making up 18 percent of the total, although the writers of the report say it may be underreported. Surprisingly, in 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labour counting 18 %. Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. However, in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, children are the majority, up to 100% in parts of West Africa.

Click at the picture for a larger image

5. War and abuse

Women and girls in war zones are especially touched by the ugly side of war. They are not able to defend themselves and after being abused or sold they are stigmatized in their communities besides ending up pregnant or with HIV/AIDS.

In August 2001, soldiers with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Eritrea were purchasing 10 year old girls for sex in local hotels.

Before the arrival of 15,000 UN troops in Cambodia in 1991, there were an estimated 1,000 prostitutes in the capital. Currently, Cambodia’s illegal sex trade generates $500 million a year. No less than 55,000 women and children are sex slaves in Cambodia, 35 percent of which are younger than 18 years of age.

Over 5,000 women and children have been trafficked from the Philippines, Russia and Eastern Europe and are forced into prostitution in bars servicing the U.S. Military in South Korea.

6. Children – lost innocence

Children from Pakistan and Bangladesh are kidnapped or sold by their parents to traffickers who take them to Persian Gulf States including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, to work as camel jockeys. These children are 3 to 7 years of age and kept malnourished to keep their weight below 35 pounds. They suffer physical abuse from the traffickers and work all day training camels. Many of these children do also suffer extreme injuries or death from falling off camels during the races.

Child victims of trafficking are very vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Misconceptions that having sex with a virgin can cure HIV/AIDS have fueled an increased demand for child prostitutes.

Girls from 15 to 17 years of age are trafficked from Thailand and Taiwan to South Africa. Traffickers recruited these girls to work as waitresses or domestic workers and once they arrive to South Africa they are forced into prostitution.

Filipino children are trafficked to countries in Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe and Southeast Asia, where they are sexually exploited. Traffickers loan parents a sum of money, which the girl must repay to the trafficker through forced prostitution. In one case, a Filipino woman rented her 9-year-old niece to foreign men for sex, and eventually sold her to a German pedophile.

50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States from no less than 49 countries every year. As many as 750,000 women and children have been trafficked into the United States over the last decade.

Women and children as young as 14 have been trafficked from Mexico to Florida and forced to have sex with as many as 130 clients per week in a trailer park. These women were kept hostage through threats and physical abuse, and were beaten and forced to have abortions. One woman was locked in a closet for 15 days after trying to escape.

In Fresno, California Hmong gang members have kidnapped girls between the ages of 11 and 14 and forced into prostitution. The gang members would beat and rape them into submission. These girls were trafficked within the United States and traded between other Hmong communities.

The Cadena smuggling ring brings women and some are as young as 14, from Mexico to Florida. The victims were forced to prostitute themselves with as many as 130 men per week in a trailer park. Of the $25 charged, the women received only $3. The Cadena members keep the women hostage through threats and physical abuse and the women must work until they paid off their debts of $2,000 to $3,000.

Domestic servants in some countries of the Middle East are forced to work 12 to 16 hours a day with little or no pay, and subject to sexual abuse such as rape, forced abortions, and physical abuse that has resulted in death.

Traffickers in many countries in West Africa take girls through voodoo rituals in which girls take oaths of silence and are often raped and beaten, prior to their leaving the country. They are also forced to sign agreements stating that, once they arrive in another country, they owe the traffickers a set amount of money. They are sworn to secrecy and given detailed accounts of how they will be tortured if they break their promise. Traffickers have taken women and young girls to shrines and places of cultural or religious significance; they remove pubic and other hair and then perform a ceremony of intimidation.

7. Human trafficking and the facts

An estimated number of 700.000 to 4 million people are forced in forced labor (including the sex industry) as a result of trafficking. Of these are:

1.4 million – 56% are in Asia and the Pacific

250.000 – 10% are in Latin America and the Caribbean

230.000 – 9.2% are in the Middle East and Northern Africa

130.000 – 5.2% are in sub-Saharan countries

270.000 – 10.8% are in industrialized countries

200.000 – 8% are in countries in transitions

161 countries are reported to be affected by human trafficking by being a source, transit or destination count. People are reported to be trafficked from 127 countries to be exploited in 137 countries, affecting every continent and every type of economy.

The majority of trafficking victims are between 18 and 24 years of age and 1.2 million children are trafficked each year.

95% of victims experienced physical or sexual violence.

43% of victims are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation of which 98% are women and girls.

32% of victims are used for forced economical exploitation of which 56% are women and girls.

52% of those recruiting females are men, 42% are women and 6% are both men and women.

In 54% of the cases, the recruiter was a stranger to the victim, 46% of the cases, the recruiter knew the victim.

Estimated global annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labor are US$ 31.6 billion. Of this:

US$ 15.5 billion – 49% – is generated in industrialized economies

US$ 9.7 billion – 30.6% is generated in Asia and the Pacific

US$ 1.3 billion – 4.1% is generated in Latin America and the Caribbean

US$ 1.6 billion – 5% is generated in sub-Saharan Africa

US$ 1.5 billion – 4.7% is generated in the Middle east and North Africa

Click at the picture for a larger image (statistics from 2008-2009)

8. Slavery and sex-trade in the Arab world

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a destination for men and women, mostly from South and Southeast Asia, trafficked for the purposes of labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Migrant workers, who stand for more than 90% of the UAE’s private sector workforce, are recruited from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, China, and the Philippines. Women from some of these countries travel willingly to work as domestic servants or administrative staff, but some are victims of forced labor, including unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, or physical or sexual abuse. Men from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan are drawn to the UAE for work in the construction sector, but are often subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude and debt bondage.

For the foreign female domestic workers, it is a life of isolation both physically, psychologically, socially and culturally. Some of these women live in abusive environments but others are able to live a little bit more socially. Under the law, once a foreign female worker enters a employers house, she is under his/her control since the employer is the visa sponsor. The employer bears total responsibility for his/her domestic workers and has total control over them. But during the first 3 months of the contract, both the employer and the employee have the right to contact the recruiting agency in order to report problems or to seek change in the status or employment of the foreign female domestic worker. Most recruiting agencies, however, do not encourage this practice, and often hide information from the foreign female domestic worker about their rights. The immigration regulations governing the status of domestic workers and the social practices towards foreign female domestic worker in the United Arab Emirates enslave them to their employers until the duration of their contract ends. Whether one is placed with a desirable or an undesirable employer is a matter of luck.

Saudi Arabia is a place for men and women from South East Asia and East Africa trafficked for the purpose of labor exploitation and forced begging for children from Yemen and Africa. Hundreds of thousands low skilled workers from India, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kenya migrate voluntarily to Saudi Arabia to work. Many of these workers meet conditions of physical and sexual abuse, non-payment or delayed payment of wages, withholding of travel documents and restrictions on their freedom of movement.

Unfortunately, the government of Saudi Arabia has done little or almost nothing to eliminate trafficking and has lack of efforts to protect victims and prosecute those who are guilty of abuse. Some victims of abuse, chooses to leave the country rather than to confront their abusers in court and according to the law, they are required to file a complaint first before they can be allowed in any shelter. If a victim chooses to file a complaint, he/she is not allowed to work and the Saudi Government does in fat provide food and shelter for female workers who file report.

9. Iran – High profitable sex-trade

Iran has for 25 years, has enforced humiliating and punishments on women and girls, enslaved them in a system of segregation, forced veiling, second-class status, lashing, and stoning to death. Joining a global trend, in Tehran there has been a 635% increase in the number of teenage girls in prostitution. In Tehran, there are an estimated 84,000 women and girls in prostitution, many of them are on the streets, others are in the 250 brothels that exist in the city. The trade is also international as thousands of Iranian women and girls have been sold into sexual slavery abroad. The head of Iran’s Interpol bureau believes that the sex slave trade is one of the most profitable activities in Iran today and government officials themselves are involved in buying, selling, and sexually abusing women and girls.

Many of the girls come from poor families living in rural areas. Drug addiction has become epidemic throughout Iran, and some addicted parents sell their children to support their habits. There is also a problem with high unemployment, 28% for youth between 15-29 years of age and 43% for women between 15-20 years of age.

Popular destinations for victims of the slave trade are the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf because of the booming tourism and the good economy. According to the head of the Tehran province judiciary, traffickers target girls between 13 and 17 years old, although there are reports of some girls as young as 8. The victims are often physically punished and imprisoned besides being examined if they have engaged in “immoral activity.” Based on the findings, officials can ban them from leaving the country again.

Police have uncovered a number of prostitution and slavery rings operating from Tehran that have sold girls to France, Britain, Turkey, as well. One network based in Turkey bought smuggled Iranian women and girls, made fake passports, and transported them to European and Persian Gulf countries. In one case, a 16-year-old girl was smuggled to Turkey, and then sold to a 58-year-old European national for $20,000.

One factor contributing to the increase in prostitution and the sex slave trade is the number of teen girls who are running away from home for different reasons and 90% of girls who run away from home will end up in prostitution.As a result of runaways, in Tehran alone there are an estimated 25,000 street children, most of them girls. The perpetrators look after street children, runaways, and vulnerable high school girls in city parks and manage to convince them. In large cities, shelters have been set up to provide assistance for runaways but these places are often corrupt and run prostitution rings from the shelters. In one case, a woman was discovered selling Iranian girls to men in Persian Gulf countries; for four years, she had hunted down runaway girls and sold them. She even sold her own daughter for US$11,000.

For further information about the slave and sex trade and the work that is done to prevent, you can click into these links.